Argentina’s central bank chief resigned Tuesday amid negotiations with the International Monetary Fund.
The surprise resignation of Luis Caputo was announced in a bank statement that said he was leaving for personal reasons. But it comes as the government is pushing for a new financing deal with the IMF.
Caputo had only been in the job since June and will be replaced by former economic policy secretary Guido Sandleris.
Argentina’s weak economy has been hit by one of the world’s highest inflation rates and a sharp depreciation of its currency, which has lost more than half its value against the dollar so far this year. That has forced the government to reach out to the IMF for help.
“This resignation is due to personal reasons, with the conviction that a new deal with the IMF will reestablish trust in the fiscal, financial, monetary and exchange rate situation,” the bank said.
President Mauricio Macri has asked the IMF for an early release of funds from a $50 billion deal agreed earlier this year to ease concerns that Argentina will not be able to meet its debt obligations next year.
Most Argentines have bad memories of the IMF and blame the international lending institution for encouraging policies that led to the country’s worst economic crisis in 2001-2002.
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